Hey Team,
I hope everyone enjoyed our tropical February as much as I did! Every once in a while I need to be reminded why I put up with high taxes, the most expensive gasoline in the country, and of course- those Crazy Californians! Not as much rain as last year, and I am not sure that is a good thing or not… There has not been a growth explosion in the outer area yet, and that is good for the allergy sufferers, but we need a better dousing to keep our runway well packed. If it doesn’t come, Jim will be renting the water truck again and an even larger steam roller in an attempt to keep the runway from chunking up before summer.
We keep having issues with the gate and unauthorized use of our site. PLEASE close the gate if you are the last one out! Again there have been reports of members arriving in the afternoon to an open gate and non-members on site flying over Sea world drive and the marsh refuge area. Kind of hard to argue our case to the City that it’s not us if they are seen STANDING ON OUR SITE while doing stupid stuff… Close the gate.
We had a pretty neat event at the FPV rotorplex last weekend. Club members had a fun race put together by “the Bomb Squad“ . A few non-members (with AMA) showed up and were able to join in for a small fee. On the plus side, a few of the non-members subsequently joined the club – Welcome! On the negative side (there is always one poison pill) one of the non-members crashed all of his drones, vandalized a member’s vehicle in our lot, and then proceeded to tear through our site at over well 50 MPH. We couldn’t file a report as all we had was his first name… I think we need to put more thought into future “open” events.
Not too much excitement or blood in the pits this month – is Skip doing ok? But I would like everyone to take a look at their first aid kits to ensure the contents are still usable. We had to super glue Randy’s finger shut last month because his (and mine) band aids wouldn’t stick after spending the year in our hot vehicles.
There was a surprising amount of unsafe flying witnessed this month. There were at least 6 incidents when planes were over my head in the pits, and I only see the weekend stuff. One plane slammed into the pits a few feet away from a young couple with small children that were spectating in the pit area. NO flying over the pits or over the fence line– EVER! The runway and airspace over the runway is for taking off and landing ONLY. Once airborne, clear the runway.
I would like to lay down a reminder that ALL members are empowered to ensure the safe and responsible use of our site. You DO NOT have to wait for a board member to say something if you see irresponsible use of our facility. If there in an incident involving the public at large, WE stand to lose OUR site, not just the 9 members of the board.
Finally, We need to keep up the press for people to quit messing around with membership and join the club. We are around 75% on renewals, which is not bad – but behind where we were last year. There is no value in holding off, it will be the same $50 all year. Please display your 2018 badges at all time or be prepared to be approached. Remarkably, the ones that always overfly the pit area also seem to be the ones without a 2018 badge – coincidence? Let’s try some peer pressure, up to telling them they cannot fly without membership. Why should they enjoy for free the club benefits you have paid for?
This month’s fun fly event on the 24th will be spot landing. Another favorite that anyone can play. Sorry, no “ Micro” aircraft on this one. The event will kick off at 10:00 AM, followed by the monthly club meeting at the field, and a hot dog lunch.
Fly safe!
Brad
